Official Study Guide for Germany
Liberal Arts
In this still young field of study, the aim is to provide a broad scientific education that is orientated towards personal interests.
Overview of the academic discipline
While German universities today are usually organised along disciplinary lines (i.e. divided into individual, clearly defined specialist disciplines), the Liberal Arts, also known as Liberal Education, serve to train experienced generalists based on the Anglo-Saxon model.
The programme is therefore interdisciplinary and incorporates knowledge from the fields of natural sciences, engineering, politics and society, environment, law, economics and culture.
The Bachelor's degree programme is aimed at students for whom a specialist course of study seems too narrow a horizon. The programme aims to teach interdisciplinary thinking based on real-life problems. The problem-solving strategies acquired are applied and practised on complex questions from science and practice.
Which topics are included in the curriculum?
The Bachelor's degree programme in Liberal Arts provides a broad-based, interdisciplinary academic foundation. You can specialise, for example, in the areas of society, economics, culture or natural sciences. Possible study modules are, for example
- Anthropology and experience
- Contexts of knowledge
- Culture and communication
- Dealing with figures, statistics and models.
What are the requirements?
If you want to study Liberal Arts, knowledge of the following school subjects is a good basis: German, English, history, politics/social studies, economics/law and biology/chemistry.
What study programmes are there to choose from?
The Bachelor's degree programme is currently only offered at four universities in Germany. The degree programme titles are, for example, Liberal Arts and Sciences or Studium Individuale. There is currently no Master's degree programme.
What job opportunities are there after graduation?
Graduates are offered various fields of work in the private sector and in institutions, e.g. in press and public relations, adult education, art or cultural management, journalism or editing.